Being a cottager/boater has its demands.

Today, while Sue de-spider-ized and hosed-down Heliotrope, I checked and topped off the engine oil. Both required a certain savior faire, some bodily contortion, and a bit of unconcern about bugs, dirt, or grime.

Yesterday I had to replace the ultraviolet bulb in the UV water filter. A warning buzzer goes off in the system after 9,000 hours of use, and while you can silence the alarm for a while, heaven help you if you don’t make the replacement within the allotted time.

Replacing the bulb is a delicate operation, in some respects similar to brain surgery—at least the instructions, illegible as they are, would have one think so. Not only do you have to remove the long, thin, fragile bulb, you also have to extract, clean, and replace a very delicate long, thin, test-tube-like thing called the quartz dome, which, if subjected to even the slightest disrespect will shatter and then cost you a fortune, while you wait weeks for a replacement and live without potable water.

Of course, every three or four weeks it is also necessary to change the particle filter. This in itself is not overly demanding—if you know what you are doing. If you don’t, however, substantial flooding of the lower level can occur.

Then there are spider invasions of the outdoor shower, and merganser pooping on the dock. Weed whackers, chainsaws, lawn mowers, and outboard motors all need constant convincing. Poison ivy needs tending. Pathways need frequent re-chipping. The outhouse (and even the septic tank) needs the occasional dose of septo-clean. Pine pollen has to be vacuumed off the screens and gutters cleared of ash seeds. Etcetera.

Of course this is only during the lazy, hazy days of summer. Things get much more interesting in the spring and fall, when it is time to re-install the water system, or put the cottage through its full winterization, or haul and winterize the watercraft.

As I said, being a cottager/boater has its demands. It teaches a certain independence, knowing that if you screw up, you are screwed.

But then again, it has its rewards.